'Hands Off, Boys!- Christmas Morning in the Trenches'

Colour photolithograph after 'AG'. Published as a supplement to 'Answers', December 1915.

Christmas was a difficult time for soldiers who were serving abroad and far from their loved ones. This was especially the case for those on the Western Front in the winter of 1915. The trenches the men lived and fought in were hasty creations and often poorly constructed. In bad weather their positions could flood and easily cave in. The soldiers, many of whom were poorly equipped to deal with the cold and rain, often found themselves wallowing in freezing mud.

Cards and parcels packed with goods from home improved morale though. As well as presents from their families, British troops received Christmas plum puddings and Princess Mary boxes from the Royal Family. These were metal cases engraved with an outline of the princess and filled with chocolates, sweets, cigarettes and tobacco.